


pick a place to rest your head.

by commonemergency



Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-08
Updated: 2018-08-08
Packaged: 2019-06-23 19:57:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,663
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15613881
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/commonemergency/pseuds/commonemergency
Summary: They work together like this for a while, she bops her head to a song that’s playing on the radio and Phil wishes he knew what song it was so he could talk about it with her.Or Phil washes the dishes with Dan's mum.





	pick a place to rest your head.

**Author's Note:**

> to the person who requested i write phil interacting with dan's family, sorry this took four months. 
> 
> i based it off of [this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCt-ZuXDzIU) clip from one of dan's liveshows. 
> 
> title from 'hold my girl' by george ezra.

Phil finds himself staring at the wall of pictures in Dan’s mums house. Stopping at each picture, memorising a baby Dan face over and over again, grabbing his phone to take a picture for himself because it’s too pure to let go. It’s that time of the night when things have settled down, the party that was happening earlier was coming to an end, the only people are immediate family members and Phil. 

He didn’t find it exactly difficult earlier, keeping up with Dan’s family- there wasn’t a whole lot, just friends and coworkers that Dan’s mum worked with. He drank a little bit of wine and loosened up over the course of the night and got to see a different side to Dan that he only ever really dreamed about.

(Most of the time Dan was with him, at Phil’s home, watching movies on his bed or on the couch with Phil’s mother passing by every so often to muse both of their hair.)

It’s a different dynamic, that’s the best way that Phil can put it. After all the conversations they’ve shared over light night skype calls and texts messages Phil is starting to really get what Dan meant by that having seen it in person. It wasn’t bad. 

It just was _different._

“Make sure you don’t track dirt on the carpet,” he can hear Dan’s mum say. 

A sigh and then a groan from Dan. Phil smiles.

“I just got it cleaned.” 

Phil has to tears his eyes away from a picture of Dan and his mum in Disneyland, pressing a single finger to Dan’s tiny cheek of the photo before he walks to the kitchen where there’s plates all over the counter all stacked and dirty ready to be cleaned.

“Could you take the rubbish out and start the laundry, Daniel?” his mother says and Dan doesn’t say anything, he just nods eyeing Phil from across the room and he smiles at him a little, almost like he’s saying sorry for something that Phil doesn’t quite understand. 

“Yeah.” Dan eventually says, grabbing the rubbish from the kitchen bin making sure it doesn’t drag on the ground and Phil doesn’t really know what to do with himself now that it was just him and Dan’s mum. 

She seems tired. Her relaxed face is much like Dan’s, it’s sullen in a way, dark circles underneath their eyes like they haven’t slept in a while but there’s a comfort in their facial expressions, a little bit warmth in their brown eyes and it makes Phil strangely happy knowing that Dan looks a lot like his mother. 

“Sorry you’re here for all the clean up,” his mother laughs quietly, rubbing her forehead. 

They’ve all drank quite a bit tonight, Phil a little less than Dan. 

“Oh, it’s not a problem.” Phil shrugs, noticing how he’s got both of his hands shoved in his pocket in a peculiar way and he takes a deep breath. 

“I better start on the dishes.” She says with another small sigh. 

“If you can find the telly remote help yourself, yeah?” She reaches out to squeeze Phil’s shoulder and walks towards the sink to get started. 

Phil stands there for a second. It doesn’t feel right to not do something. 

He can hear Dan walking up stairs, not really having any subtlety or quietness to his strides going room from room to grab the trash. He could join him but it seems like whatever mood he’s in he wants to be left alone so Phil shakes his head a little and walks towards the sink, too. 

Dan’s mum is standing over the tub grabbing plates and washing them off and the radio is on but turned down low and Phil can’t quite listen to what’s been played but he stands next to her and grabs the clean rag to dry off the plates. 

“Phil, you don’t have to do that.” She smiles a little, her eyebrow creased in confusion and he shrugs. 

“I don’t mind. My mum always put me on dishwashing.” 

She doesn’t fight it. 

They work together like this for a while, she bops her head to a song that’s playing on the radio and Phil wishes he knew what song it was so he could talk about it with her. He can hear her hum the lyrics but the song sounds like it was before his time. 

“Did you have a good birthday?” Phil asks. 

“I did.” Dan’s mum smiles again, “I’m a little peopled out though.” 

Phil could relate to that. He laughs softly, nodding his head, grabbing the plate that she passes him. 

“I might have drank too much wine,” she says with another cheeky smile. “I have a bit of a wine headache coming on.” 

“I’m pretty sure Dan does too if it makes you feel any better.” Phil replies back. 

“Yes. It does.” She laughs, nodding her head.

“It’s bloody cold outside,” Dan says with a big bang of the door. Phil rolls his eyes playfully at Dan, he turns to see him with new trash liners, he’s got a puffy jacket on with socks and slippers, it’s so casual in a Not Very Dan way and Phil has to admire it. 

It was like he had put up this front sometimes when he came back to his childhood home, with certain clothes and acting a certain way and Phil never really understood why--but he thought maybe it was just a way for Dan to protect himself. 

“It’s February.” His mother says with a yawn like it explains it, and for the most part, it does. 

“Yeah.” Dan’s voice is quiet now, watching the two of them. Phil can’t tell if Dan is smiling but his lips curve upward as he heads back up the stairs. 

“He’s quite dramatic, isn’t he?” she’s looking back down at the dishes, scrubbing once and then twice, the leftovers have finally brushed off but she does one last clean before handing it to Phil. 

“A little bit,” _but I like it._ He wants to add, but he doesn’t. There’s something stopping him for telling her about all the things he likes about Dan, it was too vulnerable, too open, and they weren’t very open, at least right here, right now. 

She smiles like she knows something he doesn’t. They all have their things. 

Phil bites down on his bottom lip, pushing through whatever brief moment of anxiety he was feeling. 

“My brother and I would be in competition of who could clean the dishes faster. Our mum would give us a chocolate before bed if we did a good job. I didn’t win a lot but somehow I always ended up with the chocolate.” 

It makes her smile. That was enough for Phil. 

“That would never work for my boys. I’m pretty sure it would do more harm than good.” 

Phil had to agree there. 

After that they don’t say anything, enjoying the other’s silence as best as they can. The night was wearing on both of them, the way that they handle the plates is a bit haphazardly, scrubbing and wiping as fast as they can just to be done, but with the last plate she takes a little bit more care so Phil does too. 

Phil didn’t know what he expected this kind of moment to be, it definitely wasn’t _this_ \- but when he thought about it--this was a lot better than whatever worrisome scenario his mind had made him think it would be.

Phil places the rag by the sink and she dries her hands. She looks like she wants to say something but instead she just smiles, looking at Phil again. 

“I’m going to finish up in here. I’ll let you go to bed.” she pauses, trying to find words he thinks, before eventually saying, “Thank you for coming to my birthday party, Phil. Sleep well.” 

Phil smiles, opting to not give her a hug, he’d do that tomorrow before they left back home. “Of course. Thank you for inviting me. Goodnight.” 

When he gets to Dan’s room he finds Dan in his pyjamas, scrolling through his phone and Phil takes a deep breath, giving himself a moment to really breathe. 

“How was it?” Dan doesn’t look up from his phone. 

Phil sits down next to him on the bed knowing that he needs to get changed and brush his teeth but he’s so tired and just doesn’t feel like doing all of that right now despite how uncomfortable he’s feeling in the clothes he’s been wearing all day. 

“I like your mum.” Phil says with a shrug, leaning into Dan’s shoulder, his eyes glancing at Dan’s screen. 

Dan nods his head, turning his phone off and looking at Phil now. They stare at each other, and Phil grabs Dan’s hand, just wanting to some sort of physical affection. There are things that Phil wants to talk about but later, when they’re home and not so restricted. 

“I’m going to get changed.” Phil says after a moment, squeezing Dan’s hand again. 

Phil takes his time in the bathroom, brushing his teeth and washing his face feeling the cool water wash off the very long day. On his way back to the room he looks at the pictures on the wall that his eyes are capable of seeing. It’s the same people in the photos, they’re a little older now, but things like smiles and facial expressions never really change. 

Phil closes the door quietly and turns off the light.

Dan is pressed up against the wall. It’s impossible for them to both sleep comfortably in Dan’s bed but they can cuddle for a while. Phil spoons Dan from behind and he closes his eyes, breathing in Dan who smells like two different mixtures of home. 

“I’m really glad you like my mum.” Dan says after a while. 

Phil can’t help but smile pulling Dan just a little bit closer.

**Author's Note:**

> comments/kudos appreciated! 
> 
> talk to me on tumblr/twitter: **@nihilismdan.**
> 
> [reblog](http://nihilismdan.tumblr.com/post/176765758748/pick-a-place-to-rest-your-head-pairing-danphil) on tumblr.


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